Petunia hybrida.
xe2x80x98Kakegawa S37xe2x80x99.
The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia, botanically known as Petunia hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Kakegawa S37xe2x80x99. xe2x80x98Kakegawa S37xe2x80x99 originated from a hybridization made in 1995 in Kakegawa, Japan. The male parent was a breeding line named P-1a (not patented). The female parent of xe2x80x98Kakegawa S37xe2x80x99 was a dwarf multiflora breeding pool line with red colored flowers named 87S- 1228-1a (not patented). F1 seed from this cross was sown during the summer of 1995 and 20 F1 plants were selected for further evaluation. Three plants were selected for mass intercrossing to produce F2 seed.
One hundred F2 plants were grown to flowering during the spring of 1996. Nine plants were selected for self-pollination. F3 seed from the nine self-pollinated F2 plants was sown during the spring of 1997 and two plants were selected for intercrossing to produce F4 seed. Two hundred plants from this F4 seed were transplanted to the field during the summer of 1998 in Salinas, Calif. One line was selected and vegetatively propagated for further evaluation. This line was propagated again in 1999, and evaluated for fixed characteristics and ease of propagation. The line was established as xe2x80x98Kakegawa S37xe2x80x99, and determined to have its characteristics firmly fixed.
xe2x80x98Kakegawa S37xe2x80x99 has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics after two years and four cycles of vegetative propagation and this novelty is firmly fixed. The variety has demonstrated stability during this time and has no inherent variation or off-types.